The Median Sib

Here’s my one and only post about Zarqawi’s death.  Just follow the link to Stuck on Stupid and a photo of the 72 virgins that await Zarqawi.  

If there is a hell in the Muslim afterlife this is it. 

Hat Tip: Blue Star Chronicles

Sometimes I include a recipe when I find something really wonderful.  My daughter-in-law gave me this recipe.  I made it to go with dinner tonight.  It is scrumptious!

Easy Corn Salad

1 can white whole kernel corn, drained well

1 can yellow whole kernel corn, drained well

1/2 cup mayonaise

1/2 cup diced green onion

1/2 cup diced tomato (remove the seeds before dicing)

1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (or use Bacon Bits)

Mix all the ingredients together well.  Salt/Pepper to taste.  Refrigerate. 

It is just about the easiest thing in the world to make - and it goes great with a summer meal.  You can use light mayonaise to cut down on the calories and fat grams.

Several days ago, I felt a bump on my left hip.  I got a mirror to get a better look.  Definitely looked like a tick - with red, swollen skin all around.  I got tweezers and pulled.  It came off easily, but I couldn’t find it afterwards.  Meanwhile, three days later, the spot is still red and swollen and occasionally itchy.  My sister, Debi, told me I should go to an urgent care place tomorrow and have them look at it.  She had a tick bite once, and the doctor put her on ten days of antibiotics.

Anyone else with experience with ticks?  Is this something I should have a doctor check?

Here’s a beautiful poem from Ruthlace. It is wonderful:

Life With Wings

God made the butterfly
And I…
Stand on earth
And watch it fly
And see that God
Has fashioned wings
For even earthbound
Creeping things!
I know that God
Intended wings
For you and me
Oh! My heart sings!
I’ve found my wings.
And even I…
Can over circumstances
Fly!

by RBS Copyright by RBS in 1973

Follow this link to read the story behind the poem.

Thirteen of my Favorite Hymns

I grew up as a PK (Preacher’s Kid), and so I grew up hearing and singing hymns.  My mother still sings them as she goes about her daily chores.  Here are thirteen of my favorites. Follow the links to the Cyber Hymnal website - you can hear the music and read about the history, writer and composer of each hymn. 

1.  Amazing Grace

2. Rock of Ages

3. God Will Take Care of You

4.  Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling

5.  Be Thou My Vision

6. To God Be The Glory

7. I Come to the Garden Alone

8. Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah

9. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

10. I Love To Tell The Story

11.  It Is Well With My Soul

12.  My Faith Looks Up To Thee

13.  Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone?

I could name dozens more.  Each fifth Sunday our church has an old-fashioned community hymn singing, and I look forward to it so much.

UPDATE:  I forgot one of my all-time favorites:  Great Is They Faithfulness which is at this URL: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/g/i/gisthyf.htm  (I’m on my mother’s computer which won’t let me link the title to the URL.)

I’m almost afraid to let myself get too happy over this:

Last Thursday afternoon I put a “for sale by owner” sign in my front yard.  I didn’t advertise my townhouse in the newspaper or do anything else to market it.  I showed the house to interested buyers on Sunday and Monday - people who just happened to drive by and see the “for sale” sign.  Monday I got an offer - a good offer.  Yesterday the buyers and I settled on terms, and I took the information to a title/homeclosing attorney who drew up the official contract.  This evening, the buyers and I will sign the contract, and they’ll give me their earnest money.

That’s wonderful news - better than I could have hoped for.  However, it gets even better.

I just got a phone call from the buyers who asked me for the name/number of the title/homeclosing attorney because they put a “for sale by owner” sign in front of their house Monday evening after making the offer on my townhouse, and they ALREADY HAVE AN OFFER on their house.  They want the same attorney to draw up the contract for them.

Last Friday I wrote about my super-dooper house-selling strategy - one that has worked for me FOUR times now.  Then Monday I wrote of getting the offer.

So I am cautiously elated!  (Can you be “cautiously” elated????  If so, I am!)

UPDATE:  The buyers’ contract for their house fell through.  However, they signed the contract for my house and gave me their earnest money.  And if their house doesn’t sell, they’ll do a bridge loan, and they have two weeks to provide proof from their bank that they qualify for the bridge loan or to have a qualified contract for their house.  So…..I continue to be cautiously elated.

All bloggers are asked to repost the following so it will get as large an audience as possible:

This is a letter written by Anthony Ippoliti, a Marine Infantryman currently serving in Fallujah, published in a local Connecticut newspaper, The Ridgefield Press:

Jun 2, 2006
I am fortunate enough to receive The Ridgefield Press every few weeks and enjoy keeping abreast of the local issues currently pressing in our small town. I am a U.S. Marine Infantryman currently serving in Fallujah, Iraq, and my mother usually includes The Press in the many care packages she sends me.Since we have very limited access to telephones, The Ridgefield Press is the primary means by which I receive local news.

Almost every week, I open The Press and find an article or letter to the editors denouncing the coalition effort in Iraq. Invariably, the individuals behind these anti-war letters and rallies mask their political agendas by asserting that they “support the troops but not the war.”

People like Vince Giordano, Paul Sutherland and Anne Stubbs are pictured in the April 13 edition of The Press carrying a yellow-ribboned coffin and signs that say “Bring Them Home Now.” They read off the names of the dead and claim to “show support for our troops” while urging lawmakers to “bring them home.” They believe that the U.S.-led coalition should never have entered Iraq and that the current effort is a never-ending quagmire that has made no progress. They believe that things are progressively getting worse and think that our forces should just pick up and leave.

They do all this under the pretense that they are supporting the troops. However, what they are really doing is using our lives and the issue of our safety and well-being as a means to achieve a political end.

My primary concern is the assertion that these individuals support the troops in Iraq but not our mission. It boggles my mind that this logic is actually utilized on a large scale.

Supporting the troops but not the war is like saying that you support filmmakers but not making films. One cannot claim to support an individual in a given profession but not support what the said profession entails. This is essentially a slap in the face to those in the service.

How protesting the job we are doing in Iraq while demanding our withdrawal constitutes supporting us is beyond me.

Furthermore, I am particularly interested in how these people support us, specifically. I have never once received a letter from an individual who claims to “support the troops, not the war.” Not a single Marine I know has received anything that could be considered remotely supportive from any of these people or the groups they represent. We have received phone cards, hygiene supplies, food, etc. from members of state and local government, radio stations, schools, private individuals and organizations, but never once from any group claiming to “support the troops, but not the war.”

I ask again: How can these groups claim to support our troops while telling us that what we are participating in is wrong?

How can they support us if they are essentially saying that our blood and sacrifices have all been given in vain?

How can they support us if they say that our comrades and brothers who have been wounded or killed in action have done so for a hopeless and morally questionable cause?

I reply to the questions I pose with a simple answer: They can’t. As a matter of fact, I assert with a considerable degree of confidence that their efforts make our already difficult job even more difficult. I’ll go so far as to say that their rallies and protests cost more and more servicemen their lives and limbs every day.I support my assertion with evidence gathered first hand. I see the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I speak with the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I don’t sit behind a desk and do paperwork or resupply efforts in the military. I am an Infantry Marine and I walk the sewage-filled streets of this city every single day.

In Fallujah, the people watch Al Jazeerah. However, they also watch CNN. A lot of them fear that the United States will soon cut and run. The people of Iraq see when our country is divided. When they see rallies to “Bring The Troops Home,” they see that as a sign that we will end our efforts prematurely.

Furthermore, they know that the insurgents will not end their efforts early. That leads them to the conclusion that when we leave, the insurgents will still be there. Therefore, if they help us, their lives and the lives of their loved ones will be in great jeopardy the minute we leave - if we don’t finish the job.

Much that they see on American television leads them to believe that we intend to abandon our efforts before the new Iraqi government is capable of defending itself and its citizens.

The actions of these aforementioned organizations and the heavy media coverage their rallies often generate serves as fuel for the insurgency. Insurgents believe they can drive us out through the idea of “death by a thousand cuts.” The longer they persist in their efforts, the more the American public becomes disenchanted with the coalition effort.

The insurgency sees this as a result. These criminals will continue to kill Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army and coalition forces so long as they see that their efforts are alienating the American public from its military.

And for those of you that aren’t up to speed with the situation in Iraq, the insurgents attack and kill established public services (such as Iraqi police and Iraqi army) more often than they attack coalition forces. As a matter of fact, an explosive-laden insurgent blew himself up last week outside the Iraqi police station that is attached to our compound.

The insurgents aren’t fighting simply to drive America out of Iraq. They are fighting to destroy any semblance of the Iraqi government so that they can impose their will on its people.

Publicly protesting our efforts in Iraq fuels the insurgency. Doing it under the pretext of “supporting our troops” is disgraceful.

Let me now emphasize that I respect an American citizen’s right to voice his or her opinion in a public forum. Such a right is granted in the U.S. Constitution.

However, voicing one’s opinion in such an irresponsible way is something I do not support. Additionally, using deployed service members as a mask to serve your purely political purpose is downright shameful. If your desire is to protest the war, then protest the war, but don’t use me or any reference to our troops as a tool to bolster your purpose.

I’ll summarize by saying this: Organizations such as The Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War do not support our troops. No matter what they say or what is printed on the signs they carry, they effectively do the opposite of support us. They downright hurt us.

Such organizations damage the morale of the men and women in the armed forces and progressively cause them to believe less and less in the mission at hand. The conditions here are difficult as it is. Opening a month-old edition of The Ridgefield Press and reading an article about an anti-war demonstration that uses our troops in an effort to mask its true cause doesn’t help.

Please do not feign support while effectively telling us that we are fighting for an unworthy cause. I think I speak for an overwhelming majority of our troops when I ask organizations like The Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War to discontinue using Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors as a means to serve a political end.

You are neither supporting us nor honoring us. You are doing the exact opposite.

I agree wholeheartedly.  Our service men and women are risking their lives daily on a noble endeavor.  Each time someone protests it adds another “cut” that undermines their efforts and our country’s integrity - and it gives our enemies encouragement.

Hat tip to Alabama Improper who hat tips Hillbilly White Trash who hat tips Born Again Redneck.

Open trackbacks: Blue Star Chronicles

“I you want to do something, you will find a way.

If you don’t want to do something, you will find an excuse.”

~unknown~

I took this photo yesterday morning.  This is a photo of a turkey hen.  Three of her chicks were also in the tree, but I was unable to get a picture of them.  At one point (after I put away the camera), the mama turkey was silhouetted on that branch with one of the little chicks beside her.  It was SO cute - but of course they were gone by the time I got my camera again.

Got a phone call a couple hours ago — some people wanted to look at my townhouse.  I haven’t advertised at all - just put a “for sale by owner” sign in my front yard.  They came and looked at it — stayed a long time talking and asking questions - called their daughter to come look at it.  They had a tape measure and measured cabinets.  They just called again — they’re coming over to make me an offer!!!!  Stay tuned . . .  Apparently St. Joseph is still working for me.  If he keeps working this well for me, I may soon start making money loaning him out to family and friends. 

Later note:  Got the official offer - and it’s good - will be negotiating on it tomorrow.  Whoopee!!!!

As I do most days, I was reading The Education Wonks earlier today, and I saw a  post about Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau that reminded me of an experience I had last year. 

To set the stage, let’s go back two years.  Two years ago I decided I wanted new dishes.  It was a purchase that was long past due since the only dishes I had were the cheapest one I could find at K-Mart years earlier - plain white “diner-style” plates.  So I started looking for some dishes I really REALLY liked.  After a few months, I found a pattern that was perfect - colorful and pretty without being overly feminine. I proceeded to research where I could get them with the least cost.  I ordered them and anxiously awaited their arrival.  They arrived and I unpacked the boxes with anticipation, washed them and put them in my china cabinet and luxuriated in the experience of using such beautiful dishes.  I was thrilled until. . . .

I was watching TV one day last year, and there was a special program about Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau.  You remember - she was the schoolteacher who had an affair with one of her students - a 13-year old boy!  I’ve taught 13-year olds in the past, and believe me, they’re not affair-material.  Obviously MKL had/has major issues.  Nevertheless, Letourneau gave up her marriage and her other children in order to be with this youngster - and served her time in prison for it.  She got out of prison and promptly married her by then legal-age lover.

So as I watched the TV program, they showed Mary Kay and Vili opening wedding gifts - among them many dishes.  And guess what pattern china they had.  Yep - the same as mine!  For some reason that put a major damper on my own enjoyment.  My beautiful dishes didn’t seem quite so wonderful anymore.

Sweet Stuff (5 years old) is very happy to have the distinction of being the only one in her family with blue eyes, and at school, she and her friend, Thomas, are the only two kids in her class with blue eyes.  She was talking to her mommy the other day and asked why her friend, Katherine, has skin that’s a different color than hers.

My daughter, seeing the opportunity for an “equality and unity of people” lesson, talked to Sweet Stuff about different countries and families, and she told Sweet Stuff that people may be different on the outside - different hair, skin or eye color, different heights, different weights, some wear glasses and some don’t - but that everyone is the same inside, where it counts.

Sweet Stuff asked a few more questions, and then understanding dawned in her eyes.  “Oh, it’s like PawPaw,” she exclaimed.  “He’s different because he doesn’t have hair (and she took her finger and drew an imaginary line around her own head to illustrate PawPaw’s minimal hairline), and I like him!”

Her mother nodded yes.  Lesson learned.

There was a turkey hen on a long curving branch of a tree in PawPaw’s yard awhile ago.  Behind her was a tiny chick - following closely.  They were silhouetted against the sky.  Two other chicks were on other branches of the tree.  A fantastic photo op.  By the time I ran inside and got my camera, they were gone.  Sigh.

“One of the greatest labor-saving inventions of today is tomorrow.”  ~Vincent T. Foss~

Boy, ain’t THAT the truth!  Procrastination is my middle name.  However, I’ve found that there is NOTHING more motivating than getting a phone call that someone wants to looks at my house (which is for sale) to get me motivated to finish up several little piddly jobs that needed to be done.  Within 25 minutes of receiving that phone call, I moved about 7 boxes from the bonus room to the storage room, vacuumed the bonus room, cleaned off and swept the screened-in backporch, lit a zillion candles and turned on every light in the house.  I started to bake some gingerbread cookies, but I figured that might be overdoing the “make it smell homey” thing - the candles already provided a nice scent throughout.

So first house-showing is now done.  We’ll see if St. Joseph is working for me.

(1) My son and daughter both have a treo and love them.  I want one.  I’m trying to figure out whether or not I can justify getting one.

(2) This next week I have the opportunity to fly with PawPaw to Dallas and then to Savannah.  He’ll be in meetings, and I can sightsee and/or shop. I’m trying to decide if I should go.

(3) Thursday of this next week I’m going to my mother’s (Ruthlace)for a few days.  I’m looking forward to that!  I plan to go to a pick-your-own strawberries place while I’m there. 

(4) My sister Joan (Daddy’s Roses) and her husband just moved less than a mile from my mother.  It’ll be great to see their new home.

(5) Tonight PawPaw and I are going to our daughter’s home for dinner.  Her nickname is Stinkeroo (given to her by my father when she was a baby), and she’s the mother of Sweet Stuff and Sunshine.  I think I will make corn salad - using a recipe my daughter-in-law, Mia, gave me.  She made it for a family dinner a few weeks ago, and it was delicious.

(6) I saw Sweet Stuff yesterday for the first time since she had the procedure to realign her nose on Friday.  She looked great - no bruising or swelling at all.  Yea for modern medicine and the resilience of children!

(7) I feel good.  I’ve stuck to a diet for several days now.  It’s amazing how that changes my whole outlook!  Now I’ve just got to get back into exercizing regularly.

Today is my sister’s birthday.  Janice is the oldest of the seven siblings in my family.  She’s the mother of two - Charmaine (Reasoned Audacity) and Gil (a college professor and entrepreneur).  She’s also the grandmother of seven.

 In the above photos, the first is Janice as an infant, and in the second picture, she’s the one in the black outfit holding the baby (at the time) Beth.  Interesting/Funny sidenote: Just looking at that photo, I realize that FIVE of the people in the photo have blogs!  (Terry has Alone on a Limb, Joan has Daddy’s Roses, my mother has Ruthlace, then Beth has Blue Star Chronicles and then I have this blog.  The two in the photo who don’t have blogs - Janice and Debi - make their living writing and/or speaking professionally. And the seventh sib, David, wasn’t born yet when this photo was taken - and he doesn’t have a blog either.)

And here is Janice with our Mother.

Janice was/is such a good “big sis” - always taking care of us younger ones and being like a second mother at times.  I remember growing up, I always looked up to her and Joan because they were so grown-up.  She’s a smart lady, too - got her Ph.D. and she speaks literally all over the world about Christian women issues.

So happy birthday to Janice - the greatest big sister in the world.